Change of Perspectives
by Kunoichi Nazena
Summary: How does a rat see the world, and what is the difference to the human point of view? A small pet rat has to find out how to survive the hard way. Splintercentric
1. Chapter 1

I'll go on with "Glory of Love", but this came to my mind while I was in Xmas holidays…

Thanks to Cynlee for betareading and corrections!

The TMNT, Splinter, Hamato Yoshi, Shredder etc. are property of Mirage.

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**Change of Perspectives**

The rat laid in its cage, coiled up, its tail neatly folded around its body. Its eyes were closed, but the pointed ears twitched eagerly, waiting for a special sound, a unique rhythm of footsteps.

Finally.

Both ears erected and the rat opened its brown eyes. The head followed the sound of the footsteps along the wall, then stopped as the pet rat looked directly at the door. For a moment, the sound paused, but the rat wasn't concerned. Its sharp sense of smell already told it who was behind that wall, and it stood up and scampered to the edge of the cage which was closest to the door. Then it stared again at the entrance, waiting impatiently. The door opened and HE entered. Immediately, the rat climbed a ladder to the level where the cage opening was and poked its nose between the bars. It wanted out, to HIM, now. HE chuckled and opened the cage door. The rat hopped on HIS hand at once, clambered up HIS arm and snuggled on HIS shoulder. HE laughed softly, then HE offered a piece of food to the rat. The rat grabbed the treat with its forepaws and eagerly ate it. HE waited patiently until the rat had finished and stood at all four paws again, then HE got up carefully. The rat nuzzled HIS neck. It was happy.

Time passed by, but the rat didn't care. There was only here and now. It was happy, when HE was there. It waited for HIM, when HE wasn't at home. HE meant safety, warmth, shelter, family. Although the rat had no words for its feelings, it knew that it belonged to HIM. But the rat found a possibility to express itself.

It knew what HE disliked. No chewing of something outside its cage, except what was offered. And what HE liked. In its mind, images of sleeping in HIS lap appeared, and pictures of it playing around. HE laughed, when the rat tried to walk on its hind paws, as HE did. HE laughed, so he liked it. The rat went further.

It was not always allowed to leave its cage and be with HIM. Not when OTHERS were around. So the rat disliked OTHERS, and hid in its little cabin when they were at HIS place. But it watched HIM without ceasing. In the evening, it showed HIM what it had learned, and HE laughed, so the rat was happy, too. It even tried to mimic the sound of the laughter, but that was impossible.

It was not allowed outside the cage however; not when HE performed the dangerous dance. The rat had seen the OTHERS dancing, but HE danced alone, and sometimes HE put the cage in the special room. So the rat watched and learned and remembered. But when it demonstrated its new skill to HIM, HE did not laugh; instead HE sat beneath the cage and watched it closely. The rat hesitated, crouched on the ground, feeling very uncomfortable when being looked over with this new gaze. Its tail twitched nervously, when HE stretched HIS hand out, but he grabbed it carefully and placed it on HIS lap. Then HE gently petted the frightened rodent. The rat recognized the words HE pronounced – Nezumi, Kakera, Splinter- they all stood for "it". Slowly, the rat eased off and calmed down. Nevertheless, it didn't understand. It just wanted to please. What had it done wrongly? What was its mistake?

The next day, the rat still felt as if it were being watched, so it hid in its cabin and refused food. It was totally confused. HE brought pellets, but the rat merely sniffed.

Although it wasn't allowed that often in the special room, HE put its cage there. And while HE exercised, the rat kept an eye on HIM. Eventually, it left its cabin to have a better sight. It was still bewildered, but also fascinated by the flow of HIS movements, of HIS dexterity.

So it was okay?

When HE had done HIS exercises, HE came to the cage. The rat was somewhat suspicious. Nevertheless the rodent decided to give it a try. This time, HE encouraged it, and gave it some of the special, sweet treat the rodent liked so much. So the rat cuddled contendedly in HIS lab, nibbled the sweetness and was perfectly happy. The world was back to normal. So it was okay.

Days passed and became months, and eventually years. The rat noticed that HE became more stressed lately and did its best to amuse HIM. It was successful. Although it definitively preferred it to use all of its legs to walk, it became used to HIS movements. Finally the rat had something to spend its time on when HE was not around, and it felt even closer to HIM.

One evening, while it was in its cage and watching HIM exercising, suddenly the door exploded. The rat flinched back, terrified by the sight of OTHERS who boldy entered the room. It noticed the look at HIS face, HIS changed expression, smell and body language, and it was frightened to death. The OTHERS attacked HIM! They mustn't!

It shied away and retreated backward to the rear side of its cage. What should it do? Shivering it crouched to the ground. HE would not surrender, HE fought and one of the OTHERS crashed against its cage, which fell to the ground and broke open. Immediately it fled behind a room divider, where it watched the further progress of the fight. THEY bound HIM, hurt HIM and HE screamed! It had never heard HIM screaming before and it scared the rat even more than the OTHERS trampling through HIS apartment.

It had to help HIM! But there were so many…

The rat flit along he feet of the OTHERS, they did not notice it, it was to small. Then it sprang directly at the muscular man standing in front of HIM, biting and scratching the man in his face with everything it had. How could they dare to hurt HIM!

It wasn't enough. The man yelled, but with one movement of his hand he grabbed the rat and dashed it out of the window. At the last moment it was able to get hold at the windowsill- and almost wished it hadn´t, because what the rat saw then was the worst moment of its life. The shiny man in the background, the one which had given all the commands, barked a few words. The rat did not understand them, but it clearly understood the meaning. It couldn't look away when the sword stroke down. And when HE felt to the ground, it realized that HE would never stand up again. Its claws disengaged from the windowsill and it fell down to the street, right in a puddle. Not only the cold water made the rodent shiver. Its world was destroyed. HE was away. It had not been able to help HIM. It was its fault.

The rat was totally alone now, and that was all its fault.


	2. Chapter 2

**Not longer a one-shot!**

**Thanks to Cynlee for beta reading and corrections! And for the nice reviews! I will change the "HIM" soon ;).**

**TMNT are property of Mirage. **

**Change of Perspective**

Chapter 2

The rat sniffed distrustfully at some piece of unidentifiable garbage. Then it decided that it wasn't _that _hungry. It thrust its sharp teeth into the cling wrap of a garbage bag, pulling and twitching, eventually managing to rip a hole into the bag. Some junk spilled onto the street.

The rat inspected every little scrap, snuffled at different promising pieces, and then it decided to take an apple core, which seemed to be more or less fresh. While it nibbled the fruit half-heartedly, it watched every now and then a certain window high above its head. It was not really hungry, but its stomach hurt, and it knew that it would die without food. Although it knew deep in its heart that HE would never come back, it waited near the house in which HE and it had lived. It even went back into HIS apartment, but there were OTHERS, not the OTHERS that had hurt HIM- it would never forget THEIR smell, and the voice of the shiny one- but a lot of people, and when they saw it, one shrilled a sound so penetrative and loud that its poor ears tingled. It ducked down, and within the very last moment it managed to jump away. One of the OTHERS wanted to stomp on it!

Shocked, it didn't know what to do, but when the man uttered angry words and lifted his foot again the rat fled straight through the door, rushed down the stairs and hid between the garbage cans. There it curled up, shivering, and licked its hurting side. The man's foot had touched it after all.

The next days it always came back to the house, but went further and further away to gather food. It became more and more difficult to fill its stomach. There were too many other rats, and other animals, too; huge animals with sharp claws and teeth. The rat had never seen anything like them before, but it knew instinctively that those animals would kill it. And it became colder and colder. So it hid by day down in the world beneath the streets, and at night it searched for food. There had always been plenty of tasty food, sweetness, and clean water with HIM, also warmth and shelter- and comfort. One last time it looked up to the window, waiting, hoping against overwhelming odds, but HE did not come to take it and bring it home. So it turned its back to the only place it had ever felt it belonged to. But it never forgot- neither the place, nor everything it had lost.

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Carefully the rat stepped forward. There was a group of others before it, others like itself. The rat felt lonesome and searched for the comfort and warmth of new bonds. Even without the frightening humans at HIS apartment, it would never be able to feel close to one of them again. So it searched for a new family of its own kind. It knew that nothing and nobody would ever be able to replace HIM, but it couldn't stand to be alone any longer.

So it had searched in the sewers and found a small group of rats close to the pipe where it had its burrow. It came up slowly, ducked to the ground and made itself smaller to show that it was friendly and meant no harm to any of the other rats. They stopped in their activities and eyed it suspiciously. The tallest one stepped in the direction of the rat, ruffled its whiskers and snarled.

The rat hesitated for a moment, and then it bravely went on. It felt that it had crossed a line. The others would flee, fight, or accept it. It pressed itself to the ground again, showed that it complied in every aspect. The big rat hissed warningly and straightened up.

The rat made a few more steps. Immediately the big one jumped forward, attacked and bit it deeply in the shoulder. The rat cried out of pain and surprise, turned around and fled as fast as its legs could carry it.

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The rat crouched in its burrow. It was merely a big hole in the wall, much too big for it alone, but the open space above its head reminded it of its former home.

Carefully the rat licked its side and cleaned the wound, which was not severe, but hurt nevertheless. Then it rested its head on its forepaws and sighed frustrated. It had tried numerous times to approach groups of rats, but every time it was the same outcome: either they fled or they attacked it. It sighed again and felt kind of betrayed. It didn't want to harm the other rats, it just wanted company.

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The next day was rainy. The rat eyed the water, which streamed under its burrow. Luckily it wasn't enough to flood his home. In the evening the weather calmed down, but every now and then water dripped from the ceiling and unnerved the rat.

It decided that it could risk a trip to the surface. When it left the sewers, it sniffed carefully and watched the streets. It had already had very bad experiences with those stinking metal things with humans inside of them. The rodent found a dry place under a dumpster, keeping tabs on the traffic and the many people and even animals surging down the streets. This was way more interesting than listening to water trickling from the ceiling.

Suddenly there was a very loud, disturbing sound, and an enormous vehicle came down the street- right in front of a man crossing the street! He was rescued by another man, and something smashed. The rat heard that sound and turned its head around. It saw a glimpse of something green being washed into the sewer, and a human kid, crying. It glanced across the street to the human crowd discussing the accident, and then it followed the green thing into the sewer. It was curious just what had entered its territory.

The rat jumped through the drain and landed in a puddle of water. Right before it was another puddle, which looked strange and smelled even stranger. The rat disliked it. Instinctively it knew that this, whatever it was, was dangerous to it. But within the puddle…

The rat eyed the little green animals. Carefully it touched one with its snout. It felt hard, but the animal didn't shied away, nor did it attack. Becoming braver, the rat lifted one of them with its forepaw. The animal seemed agitated, but showed no sign of fear. Contrariwise, the rodent had the feeling that this one was still very young- and liked the rat. It put the animal down on the ground carefully. Meanwhile, the other ones approached the rat. All of them, and the rat itself as well, were covered with the slimy stinking stuff. The rat encircled them, herding them. Then its gaze fell on a metal canister…

It took all its physical power for the rat to push the canister to its burrow. It had crammed the animals in the canister, for it feared the others would run away if it brought them to its lair one by one. Finally it arrived at its home. Gently it took the animals into the straw it had collected to pad out the hole. Then it offered them food. The little ones ate eagerly and the rat watched them gladly, feeling much better then it did this morning. When its new companions slowly fell asleep, it grabbed them and cleaned them by licking. The slime tasted horrible. Then it snuggled against the little ones, which seemed to like this, because they cuddled against it as well. The rat fell asleep, not thinking about tomorrow. All it knew was that it wasn't alone any more.


	3. Chapter 3

Change of Perspective

Disclaimer: Splinter and the TMNT are property of Mirage. I don't earn anything by writing this story.

Thanks to Cynlee for beta-reading and corrections, and thanks to everyone who reads this!

Change of Perspectives

Chapter 3

The following night the rat was dreaming. It had dreamt before, but only vague and blurred dreams of eating, sleeping and running, which were gone and forgotten the next morning. This night was different. The pictures in its head had never been that clear and precise. It was in its cage, and again, the evil humans attacked HIM. It was terrified; it knew the outcome but couldn't change it. It knew that it was only sleeping, nevertheless everything felt real, even more real than the time the murder had actually happened. The colors were brighter than in its memory, the sounds louder and some of the words suddenly made sense.

_Kill him._

_Finish him off._

_I will do it myself._

The rat whimpered while sleeping, moving its legs restlessly and disturbing the small animals it had rescued the day before. They were not willing to give up such a warm and cozy comfort, so they snuggled deeper into the rat's fur nevertheless, while the rat was haunted by its nightmares.

Again, it attacked the giant man and remembered his smell, his way to move, the sound of his footsteps- and for the first time, the expression in his face and his facial features. It would never forget him. All of the attackers were burnt in its memory forever.

Again, it fell from the windowsill, down to the street, and-

Shivering the rat awoke, jumped up- and bumped his head at the ceiling. Totally confused, the rat paused motionless. His movement had awakened the small ones as well, which had tumbled out of his fur. But- they were not that small any more. The rat crouched down to the ground, snout to snout with one of them. The animal blinked and crawled in his direction, missing the warm and soft fur. The rat moved his head and twitched his ears. This was interesting. They hadn't behaved like that the day before. Now the little one had reached him, reached out with its paw- and pulled his whiskers. The rat flinched and grimaced. That had hurt! Interesting as well, but nothing he wanted to be repeated. He pressed the scalawag with his paw to the earth and cleaned it by licking, and then he continued with the other ones and ended with himself. He couldn't ignore the strange way his own body was behaving anymore. He had grown, and his paws and legs had changed its form. Even the calming familiar ritual of cleaning himself wasn't that easy anymore, for his body wouldn't move the way he wanted it. He licked his paws, ran them over his ears and head while trying to focus at this strange happening.

He laid down- had brought the animals home- had found them- the accident- searching for food-

Food. His stomach demanded its right. Concentrating on the problem at hand- food, he needed food- he mentally brushed aside any other thoughts that screwed up his mind. At least the search for food was something he could handle. Right now, he had bigger problems than ghostly memories- literally. When he tried to turn around, he noticed that the burrow had become too small for him and his little foundlings. So, after a few uncomfortable moves, he had to leave tail first.

Which lead to another problem: They followed him. The little one from before looked straight in his eyes, its mouth opened and presenting the rat its teeth. Instinctively he ducked to the ground, tensing his muscles, ready for an attack- and the little one bumped into his snout.

"Ngghiff!"

The rat sniffed and rubbed his poor snout. The animals were _hard_. He wrinkled his nose and nudged the small one, which lay on the floor upside down, pedaling in the air with all four legs, looking miserably. Again the rat nudged it with his snout, demanding an answer for this sudden attack. The poke turned the green one around, and again it presented its teeth, raised a paw- and slapped the rat's nose.

"Weeeee!"

The rat recoiled with a big leap, first whining, then hissing angrily. For a moment the little one hesitated, then it crawled again in his direction. Although every instinct, every memory of his past life told him that this was an attack, that the strange green animal would hit and bite, the rat just couldn't be angry. A part of his newly found power of observation told him that this was a cub which wanted comfort and that the "attacks" had merely been accidents, born out of misunderstandings.

Another one of the green animals tumbled out of his burrow. The rat sighed, and then he carefully clasped the first one with his mouth, putting it back into the burrow, and granted the other one also with this treatment. Now he could finally leave for food.

He only managed to walk a few steps, when he heard a soft "thump" behind him. They still tried to follow him! So he turned around, set the escapee back, and made another attempt to leave. It was futile. Angrily he hissed in the direction of the green ones. They didn't care; instead they tore at his fur. The rat nibbled, frustrated, at the straw, with which he had padded his burrow. What should he do? He was really hungry and…

They would be hungry too. He watched the little ones moving randomly through the straw. One had come to his paws. Absently he started to clean it. The small one wrinkled its face, but let him and snuggled into his fur afterwards. The rat looked at this helpless, small being, sleeping trustfully and peacefully at his side. It took him a while until he noticed that he presented his teeth to it as well.

Hunger. Again this overpowering thought sprang into his mind. The rat hunkered over the small ones, being torn between searching for food and staying with his newfound fosterlings. Nervous, he glanced through the tunnels while the green ones crawled over his body. What to do? Finally he caught sight of a wooden plank. The day before it would had been too bulky and way too heavy, but now…

The rat sprang into the sewage and eyed it suspiciously. He had to try a few times before he found a way to haul it without getting too many splinters in his snout.

Splinter.

The word, and the tone he connected now with it, sounded familiar. For a moment he hesitated, trying to catch this fragile thought, but another "thump" behind him broke his concentration immediately. He let go of the plank, hastened back and put the animal back into safety before it could fall into the wastewater. Again, he cleaned it, and became once more reminded of his hunger by his rebelling stomach. He noticed the small animals feeding on the straw. He needed fresh straw. And fresh food. They would follow him. The plank.

So he went to the plank again, shifted it a short distance and had to recapture the small ones again and again. When he eventually managed to bring the plank to the burrow, he twisted it in the entrance in a way that would allow him to get outside, but not the small ones. Nevertheless, afterwards he was so exhausted that he decided to take a nap before getting food. He watched his little ones, all four of them with their heads raised so as to be able to look in his eyes, and again he noticed he showed them his teeth. But somehow, it didn't feel aggressive, not as it had felt when he did so to other rats.

He curled around the small ones, protecting them with his body and letting them join his body heat. They felt rather cold most of the time. Sighting contentedly, the rat closed his eyes. A last thought occurred his mind: HIM, looking at the rat, showing all of HIS teeth. A sign of affection- and happiness.


End file.
